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Uniform policy prompts complaints

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High school students wearing jeans head home after school lets out in Seoul. The Education Ministry implemented a collective-purchase system for school uniforms this year, but many manufacturers failed to meet the March 2 deadline. By Oh Jong-taek

Even though the new semester started a week ago, a number of students nationwide attended class without a school uniform, going instead in their own clothes - jeans and T-shirts.

The reason was that many schools have still not received their uniform shipments from their designated manufacturers, a mishap that came about under a new purchasing system belatedly announced by the Ministry of Education.

Under the system, public middle and high schools this year placed group uniform orders. However, the ministry’s announcement came late, and it failed to consider the time needed to manufacture school uniforms, particularly in large quantities.

The Education Ministry announced last year that the collective-purchase system for school uniforms would be conducted, with the new uniforms to be worn starting in March, and drew up contracts with six manufacturers to participate in a bidding process for each school.

Eight to 10 months are often required to produce uniforms.

“It is difficult to meet the deadline because each manufacturer has to produce more than 200 school uniforms for new students,” said Jin Sang-joon, the president of the main association representing manufacturers in the school uniform industry.

According to the association, about 40 schools in Seoul did not receive their orders by March 2, the first day of the new semester.

The new system aims to reduce the high costs of school uniforms that have continued to increase annually in Korea. Under the new system, school authorities can designate a manufacturer chosen through a bidding system.

“This policy is favorable for parents because it reduces uniform market price by 34 percent,” said Kang Byeong-gu, an official of Education Ministry’s Student Welfare Policy Division.

However, the policy wasn’t so popular with some parents and students, who wanted to choose their own manufacturer.

One 45-year-old parent, surnamed Park, wanted to continue to independently purchase her daughter’s school uniform because she said her child preferred the brand.

Another parent pointed to uniform quality.

“Even though it’s custom cloth, its quality is inferior to ready-made cloth,” a 44-year-old mother surnamed Cho said of the collectively purchased uniforms.

She added that she repaired her son’s uniform jacket by herself to fix a design flaw.

According to a survey conducted from Jan. 27 to Feb. 15 by Azoomma.com, an online website for middle-age women, 72 percent of 647 parents who have a child in elementary, middle or high school said they prefer to individually purchase school uniforms.

However, Kang argued that a choice over the collective purchase system should not be afforded to parents.

“Giving them the choice to make individual purchases will raise the price again,” he said.

Responding to complaints over uniform quality, Kang said the ministry will improve the new system by giving preference in the bidding process to manufacturers that can guarantee quality assurance.

The ministry recommended on Wednesday that local education offices set a maximum price for collective purchases at 204,316 won ($182) per one winter uniform, and 82,572 won ($74) for summer clothes.

BY KIM KI-HWAN, SHIN JIN [nam.yoonseo@joongang.co.kr]
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